Contents
The study that shows the real benefits of mindfulness
Psychology
The research analyzes the effectiveness of the technique on anxiety and ruminant thoughts
The word mindfulness is already part of the collective imagination. There are thousands of articles that talk about its benefits and give advice to achieve that state of calm that it promises. But, within the scientific literature, the research on this relaxation technique is scarcer. A team from the University of Malaga, together with the Department of Psychology of the Loyola University, has published a study in which they determine the effectiveness of this technique.
Although mindfulness is increasingly widespread, Dr. Davinia Resurrección, a researcher on the project, points out that “so far there have been no reports of its association with improving psychological health.” In this case, the researchers have analyzed the benefits of
‘short’ mindfulness interventions, which can range from one minute to one hour. The study, led by the University of Malaga doctor Óliver Jiménez, has analyzed 5.000 publications and has determined that the application of this technique considerably reduces anxiety and anguish and improves positive affect.
The study, published in the journal “Mindfulness”, has analyzed this technique in controlled contexts, that is, not in a field of leisure and relaxation, or mixed to intervene together with other psychological therapy techniques, but has analyzed the application of this technique in isolation.
How does mindfulness help us?
When we talk about mindfulness, Dr. Resurrection warns that we should not confuse it with relaxation. The idea is to focus on your thinking for a short period of time. If, for example, a person does it for a minute, the idea is to analyze if in that short period of time there is a difference in their mood, “he explains.
The researcher continues and comments that the mindfulness technique above all helps to improve anxiety and ruminative thinking. “In the case of this type of thinking, what we do is give a lot of thought to a problem, and we think about it so much that we cannot focus on a solution,” says the doctor who adds that, being able to focus for a while on the present And in how we feel, it “eases that ruminative thinking.”
“Our brain has learned to do many things at the same time, and this is an advantage, but it can also be a disadvantage,” says Dr. Resurrección. He explains that we live in a world in which the idea of not being able to stop for a second prevails, and that “liquid modernity” makes us be alert at all hours. «Mindfulness is accepting that we cannot recover what has already happened, and that we should not worry about things that we do not know how they will be», Says the professional. Learning this technique can help us enjoy life more, and accept what we live. “If a nervous person, or who has difficulty concentrating on one thing, only manages to think about the present, see his thoughts and accept them, he will gain a lot,” says the doctor.
“Mindfulness doesn’t fix everything”
It is important to note that mindfulness is not the solution to all problems. “Now there is a ‘boom’ in this technique, which seems to be used for everything, but it is not like that,” says the researcher. It emphasizes the idea that, when starting to do it, we must do it together with a professional, since, as we are not used to listening to ourselves, the moment of focusing for a while in the present can have the opposite effect and increase our anxiety.
“We process and live with a large amount of daily information: thoughts, memories, sensations, emotions … and when we stop to listen to ourselves, we must have a professional by our side to understand that we must accept everything we think,” says Davinia Resurrección. “The idea is acknowledge a thought, understand it, accept it, and then let it go. It is important to also assume negative thoughts, understand why they are there and not reject them “, says the doctor, who ends by warning that, just as it is not good to” hook ourselves 100% “to negative thoughts, we should not do it with negative thoughts either. . The key is to find a middle ground.